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Hello to all of you!
I have been reading this board for quite some time, and as politics is my passion, and as I enjoy debating and friendly banter, I figured it was time I join. Let me first say your forum is excellent, well run and you have an interesting variety of members. I also quite like the brunt honesty of many members here.

That being said, about myself:

I am what some here would call a Liberal yet I am also what Liberals have called a "Neo Con". The label I adhere to is "Progressive Conservative", a political label which Benjamin Disraeli, Presidents Taft and Eisenhower, along with Winston Churchill, used to describe their own ideologies.

Per Wikipedia:

Progressive conservatism is a conservative ideology that incorporates progressive policies alongside conservative policies. It stresses the importance of a social safety net to deal with poverty, support of limited redistribution of wealth along with government regulation to regulate markets in the interests of both consumers and producers.[1] Progressive conservatism first arose as a distinct ideology in the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's "One Nation" Toryism.[2][3]

There have been a variety of progressive conservative governments. In the UK, the Prime Ministers Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan,[4] and present Prime Minister David Cameron are progressive conservatives.[5][6] The Catholic Church's Rerum Novarum (1891) advocates a progressive conservative doctrine known as social Catholicism.[7] In the United States, the administration of President Howard Taft was progressive conservative and he described himself as "a believer in progressive conservatism"[8] and President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared himself an advocate of "progressive conservatism".[9] In Germany, Chancellor Leo von Caprivi promoted a progressive conservative agenda called the "New Course".[10] In Canada, a variety of conservative governments have been progressive conservative, with Canada's major conservative movement being officially named the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1942 to 2003.[11] In Canada, the Prime Ministers Arthur Meighen, R.B. Bennett, John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, and Kim Campbell led progressive conservative federal governments.[12]

That said, I am not a Socialist, nor am I a Communist. I believe both ideologies to be inherently destructive, as they go against natural human nature and urges, which is why their implementation has always resulted in dictatorship and blood. I may indeed be what some would call a Liberal here, but I also love America, I do not hold our Founders to be "irrelevant racist old white men", I respect many of them, I am not anti-gun (I am soon to be a member of the NRA, actually), I dislike Michael Moore generally and find PETA to be incredibly annoying.

My favorite artists are or were Conservative, such as John Wayne, Tom Selleck and Clark Gable.

I do favor many traditionally Liberal platforms (social safety net, Square Deal, regulations, New Deal, Great Society), but also recognize that reform is necessary in many of those and that there is a limit to everything. I do not believe in unchecked welfare, nor do I believe in unregulated business.

I believe in workfare instead of welfare, and regulation instead of Laissez-Faire. I do not hate those I disagree with as some on both sides do. For example, I disagree with the policies and politics of Ronald Reagan, but I do not feel he was a bad man, or evil, and I greatly admire his wife, Mrs. Reagan, for her strength and loyalty, and also feel great sympathy for his decline and death.

I am for the death penalty for criminals, for reduced drug laws, pro-military and am generally a hawk, and for lessened gun control laws. I am anti-abortion, but I would not legislate my own personal morality on others.

I believe in traditional families, where a mother and a father both raise children, but I am tolerant of unconventional families and don't see anything wrong with gays raising children, even though it goes against my strong sense of traditionalism. I'm the kind of guy who feels the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s (pre Hippie 60s--I despise Hippies) were better than today in many ways, chiefly in terms of morality and family related issues. I am a Roman Catholic.

I do not believe either Conservatives or Liberals hate America or wish to destroy America, I believe both simply have different views about America and that both truly feel their own way is the best to achieving prosperity and security. We have real enemies bent on our destruction, to be sure, but I do not believe that we are our own enemies.